Constitution Bench likely to begin hearing over Aligarh Muslim University status

Tribune News Service

Satya Prakash

New Delhi, January 8

A seven-judge Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court is likely to commence on Tuesday hearing the contentious issue of minority status for Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) — eight years after the BJP-led NDA government sought to withdraw the Centre’s appeal against an Allahabad High Court’s ruling that it was not a minority institution.

The Bench, including Justice Sanjiv Khanna, Justice Surya Kant, Justice JB Pardiwala, Justice Dipankar Datta, Justice Manoj Misra and Justice KV Vishwanathan, will examine if an educational institution created by a parliamentary statute could enjoy minority status under Article 30 of the Constitution which empowers religious and linguistic minorities to “establish and administer” educational institutions.

A three-judge Bench headed by the then CJI Ranjan Gogoi had on February 12, 2019, referred to a seven-judge Constitution Bench the issue.

The Constitution Bench will examine the correctness of a 2006 judgment of the Allahabad High Court, declaring that the AMU was not a minority institution.

On behalf of the AMU, senior counsel Rajeev Dhavan had earlier contended the constitutional issues involved were important as the top court in its seven-judge Bench verdict in the TMA Pai case in 2002 did not clarify as to what should be the requirement for establishing a minority institution.

If the Supreme Court finally declares the AMU a minority institution, SCs, STs and OBCs will not get reservation in admission. The verdict would set a judicial precedent for a similar legal battle over the status for Jamia Millia Islamia University, which was declared a minority institution during the UPA government in 2011.

The AMU and the then UPA government had challenged the 2006 Allahabad High Court verdict in the Supreme Court.

However, the BJP-led NDA government in 2016 told the top court that it will withdraw the appeal filed by its predecessor government as “the previous stand was wrong”.

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